


indemnify

by IantheAbyssWatchingCactus



Series: muleta [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Adam is a dick, Aftermath of Violence, Hurt No Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Indulgent, Spoilers, Violence, blake is scared, yang is yang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 01:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19757599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IantheAbyssWatchingCactus/pseuds/IantheAbyssWatchingCactus
Summary: Skidding past him, she dug her mechanical fingers into the ground, coming to a halt. He was fast, but he was unstable. She could see it. She could see how reckless his attacks were, the desperation present. This wasn’t the same demon who effortlessly took her out on the night Beacon fell. He wasn’t the cold, calculating beast who Blake said was a master of control.He was vulnerable.





	indemnify

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. This is just a short fic I've written revolving around an alternate ending to Volume 6 of RWBY. It centers around the perspective of Yang. Feel free to leave any and all criticisms or whatever in the comments. Enjoy!

Red flashed, scorching the earth. Shadows trailed and surrounded, but she remained strong. She had to remain strong. She had to save Blake - focus. Remember what he told you. 

“Sometimes, scratch that...most of the time, the fight is only a distraction to the larger goal at hand.” He said matter of factly, coffee mug soon meeting where those very words slipped out of. He had seemed like a sage, then, with his five o’clock shadow and tousled blonde hair. That helped her remember, how he looked when he said that. How wise he seemed, the same man who stumbled his words and watered flowers and gave her piggy-back rides when she was only half the size she is now.

A sharp pain threw her out of her reminiscence as she instinctively shielded her face with her arms to block the incoming red flash of energy, bursting with what seemed like raw hate. Her lilac gaze reopened, glaring through her guard at the demon who stood before her.

He was tall. He had to be over six feet. His brown hair, streaked with crimson, stood undeterred as it swept forward. He was attractive, that much was undeniable - if not for the seared image branded into his flesh, obscuring what should’ve been his left eye. 

Adam was his name. She remembered that. She remembered him.

She wished she didn’t, wished she hadn’t seen that brief flash of red before her whole world went black. She wished she hadn’t charged in so blindly - scratch that, wished she didn’t even have to see one of her best friend’s laid out on the floor, defenseless and bleeding. How could she have helped that?

How could she have stopped the boiling rage in her heart when she saw someone hurting her? How could she have, with the way she was, no, with the way anyone would’ve been, stopped herself from losing it right then and there?

“I couldn’t have,” She told herself mentally. There’s nothing that could’ve stopped what happened. Nothing could have stopped that night, the night she lost a part of herself. 

She felt her left hand begin to shake. That monster was in front of them. 

The one who stole her soul

The one who robbed her of a part of herself.

The zealot who never left her alone, not in her dreams, not in her waking thoughts. She never knew what he sounded like, but that didn’t stop all the times when he told her that she wasn’t enough. That she was just a -

“His semblance is like yours! He absorbs energy through his sword, stores it up, and then sends it back when he’s ready!”

A voice called out to her. That brought her back to reality. She loosened her guard, letting out deep breaths. 

She turned her lilac gaze over for a brief moment, but stayed focus. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him for nary a second, lest she taste the bite of his blade again.

The raven haired girl who had told her that bit of information was crouched over on a single knee, panting. She knew that some encounter must have taken place between the raven hai- Blake, and the demon beside them. Blake was missing her coat, and she didn’t have Gambol Shroud with her, both of which Blake had before she dropped her off.

Then, she mulled over the other girl’s words. She could take damage, store it up, and send it back in a fit of rage when she wanted to. But he...he didn’t have to feel it. All he had to do was defend and then attack. He didn’t have to suffer through anything.

She betrayed her prior acknowledgement of how dangerous it was to turn away from him out of sheer disbelief, twisting her upper body somewhat to face her raven haired companion. 

“He gets to dish out damage without having to feel it? That’s just cheap!” She complained. She knew that wasn’t fair, though. She had no idea what he had been through, but she held no sympathy for the demon named Adam. She needed to focus on taking him out. Sympathy would ruin that. He didn’t deserve it, anyway.

Suddenly, she bursted forward. Using her gauntlets like jet propulsion, the blonde girl darted at the demon with frightening precision. A head-on approach wouldn’t work against him - she had the scars to prove that much, so she improvised. As he readied to withdraw his blade just like he did that night, she used another burst from her gauntlet to change direction. Now she was on his left - and his eyes weren’t fast enough to defend from when she let out another burst of her gauntlet to gain momentum with a spin, slamming her leg right into his cheek.

He spun from the force, but was quick to turn around, readying for another strike - but she anticipated this. Turning her gauntlets towards the sky, she rocketed herself back to the ground, dodging the crimson blade that passed through her prior position in less than a second.

The demon seemed to be aware, however, as his body twisted with his own attack, swaying. Without an ounce of a break, he slightly jumped, bringing the chokuto back in a horizontal swing.

She was facing the other way, but nonetheless, she expected another blow. Remaining in her crouched position, and with another burst of her gauntlets, she passed by under his blow.  
Skidding past him, she dug her mechanical fingers into the ground, coming to a halt. He was fast, but he was unstable. She could see it. She could see how reckless his attacks were, the desperation present. This wasn’t the same demon who effortlessly took her out on the night Beacon fell. He wasn’t the cold, calculating beast who Blake said was a master of control.

He was vulnerable.

That much reassured her, as in the next moment, she began to sprint. She darted forward, determined not to let him get a chance to rest. She jumped, letting out another round from her gauntlets to give her the momentum needed to go further up and forward.

Lilac hues watched mid-attack as he sheathed his blade, resting his hand on the scabbard. He was fast, but at that moment, in her position, she was faster. He wouldn’t unsheathe his blade by the time her fist collided with his skull. She was gonna wipe that devilish grin off his lips. ...Why was he smiling?

She thought she heard her name as she fell.

The girl shot backwards, colliding with the ground. Her forehead burned, and she felt dizzy. Her world was black, and it took her a moment to realize her eyes were closed. 

She tried to remember what had just happened. Where was she, again?

Right, the waterfall. She was fighting Adam. She was protecting Blake.

She was avenging herself.

Ah, yes. She was in the midst of attack, she was ready to deal a blow that would’ve certainly dealt his aura out. But now, she was on the ground. Why?

Then, it hit her.

Oh.

Oh.

He hadn’t unsheathed his sword in retaliation like she thought. Instead, he had loaded it into his sheath, and fired it like a bullet. Was his sword scabbard a weapon? It made sense, after all...very few people kept only a singular weapon with them.

Her confused gaze opened up just in time to be blacked out again as his foot slammed into her head.

She flew back, bringing up dust as she rolled against the ground. Her eyes opened again, and she was instantly beget with fear when she realized that the edge of the cliff was two feet away from her.

Without hesitation, she got to her feet, turning around to find the red demon closing in on her position - did she mention he was fast?

She railed out shells from her gauntlet and arm, bursting out of the way, but he intercepted her. His crimson blade left a streak of scarlet as an arc of death approached her. In desperation, she focused what she could of her aura to her stomach - he was going to cut straight through her!

Yang. Her name was Yang. She remembered that when she heard a voice shout it out in a desperate cry. It sounded like it was panicking. Yang opened her lilac eyes, feeling a sharp pain in her midsection. He had hit her.

Her eyes, glazed over in confusion, looked down at the origin of the pain. A fine cut diagonally reached from her waistline, over her belly button, and had cut through a portion of her top. She was bleeding, but it wasn’t so bad. Her aura had prevented most of the damage.

That’s when she realized in terror that he would’ve chopped her body in half. Only this time, it wouldn’t have been her arm. Her chest would’ve been separated from her stomach. 

Yang couldn’t wallow in anxiety over potential events much longer, however, as she heard the clang of steel and then the muffled sounds of a girl. The girl she came here to save.

Now with a much different kind of emotion, fear, Yang’s lilac eyes stared up to witness as the crimson demon held Blake under his grasp. His fist clenched around her throat, choking the life out of her. His right arm lifted up slightly, blade in hand. He was going to kill her. 

That demon was going to kill her best friend.

That demon was going to revel in it.

That demon was going to steal everything from her again.

Within her soul, a burning sensation took root. She had held it back for so long. She had been calm, she had been collected. She had been patient, bided her time, shoved her demons out of the way just so she didn’t screw up like last time. But that was over.

Golden flames erupted around her as she rose up, her rage personified. The gentle lilac hues now burned a scarlet red - the same color of the blade that demon held in his hand. She wouldn’t lose again. She had to save Blake.

No wisdom of her father would save Blake now.

Without mercy, Yang dashed through like a scorching bullet. She was faster than him now. She was going to reach him, knock him to the ground, knock the teeth out of his wicked and sinful mouth, knock the life out of his body!

“Predictable - just like last time.”

A snarl on his lips, Yang didn’t take in what the demon had let out of his mouth before her eyes softened, laid witness to a crimson arc as it cut through her vision.

She stood in a void. At least, that’s what she thought one would look like. A white, featureless landscape - bleak and uninteresting. Ugly.

Her eyes darted around, trying to discern anything, anything different, but found nothing. Panic began to build up inside her, until she turned around. She saw a young boy. He was small, frightened. What seemed to be dull beige rags hung off his shoulders. He was scared, shaking with his knees up against his chest. His eyes were shut, his brown hair, lightly tinted scarlet, was a mess - windblown and dirty.

She hesitantly crouched down, filled with pity. 

“Hey. Are you okay?” She conjured the biggest smile she could muster for one just as confused and scared as the boy seemed to be.

Seemingly not recognizing the voice, the boy opened his puffy and moist eyes, tears streaking down his dirt covered cheeks, leaving streams of fair skin. His eyes were big and blue, a stunning color. It reminded her of one of her friend’s, with her big and icy eyes. 

The boy backed away slightly. She remembered she was trying to comfort him.

“What’s your name? I’m…” She struggled.

What was her name?

“W...Why do you care?” He sputtered out. He was clearly trying to be tough, despite his state. That struck her as familiar, for some reason.

“Because I’m confused, too. I want to help you.” She pushed aside the issue of her name. She was sure she’d remember it eventually, anyway.

“I don’t need your help!” He spat, voice cracking. She almost laughed then, before she realized no longer were they in a white void, but a cave. Machines without pilots were seemingly frozen in time, drilling into rock. Large crystals surrounded them, all of varying colors, some mixed and impure. Blue, purple, green, clear, white.

Her vision strained when she caught sight of red ore. 

Shaking her head, she looked back down at him. Steadily, she extended her arm out to the boy.  
“I’m lost, too. Let’s help each other.”

He physically backed away from her touch, though over the course of the next 30 seconds, slowly reached out to touch her left hand. Slowly standing and helping him to his feet, she looked back around. “Do you know where we are?” She asked with a huff.

He gently shrugged. By the Gods, he was small. Then, his meek voice cracked out.

“Th...the guys who work us call it the Dust Mine.”

“A dust mine? Got’cha.” Thankfully, she knew what that was. Then, another realization, much scarier this time, struck her square in the head.

“Wait - work you? You’re just a kid!” She sounded panicked.

All the boy did was tilt his head. “They said that doesn’t matter. They say that…” He looked down, eyes watering. “This is all we’re gonna be good for.”

She was so appalled, she couldn’t even think of what to say. Instead, she crouched down again so now his gaze was slightly above her own. “Let’s get out of here, together. Can you tell me your name?” 

He blinked. Then he blinked again. His eyes lit up, widening as far as they possibly could. “You mean...we’re gonna leave…? I don’t have to...work anymore?” He asked in quiet disbelief, shocked but hopeful all the same.

She nodded. “Yep, I’m gonna help you get out of here. But first, I’d really like to know what to call you.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes, smiling gently. “The other ones like me always call me Adam.”

Yang’s eye shot open. She heard sirens blaring past the waterfall in the background. The earth itself seemed to tremble.  
She looked around, fearing the worst.

She was alone.


End file.
